Federal Budget Disaster Seen, Won’t Be Heard

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-budget17sep17,1,6085724.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Something remarkable will happen here today. A senior congressional figure will declare the federal budget, in effect, a disaster area — and official Washington will probably react with a shrug.

Even though the government is on track to run a record deficit in excess of $500 billion next year, neither President Bush nor congressional leaders have proposed doing anything to balance the budget anytime soon. Their strategy: to wait for a vigorous economy to do the job for them.

That makes David M. Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, a rare Cassandra. He is giving a speech today warning that the nation's long-term fiscal outlook is seriously out of whack. And he challenges the assumption that economic recovery will solve the problem painlessly.

"We need a wake-up call," Walker said in an interview. "We need to come to terms with reality: The gap is too great to grow our way out of the problem. Tough choices will be required."

[mbperrin]

1. We could always tell the bondholders

to use it as wallpaper!

See, that wasn't so hard. (Nope, I sure don't own any T-bills!)

[Wwagsthedog]

2. China, Japan and the rest of the world own lots of our paper bonds

What if they dump them for Euros or gold? Sure won't be pretty for anyone holding greenbacks.

[Maple]

3. That sound you hear

is the printing press being fired up again.

[UpInArms]

4. I do believe that people are starting to pay attention

to the crisis.

Here's a letter in http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/9/16/17465151.cfm

$87 billion could be better spent at home

Is anyone else concerned about the daily loss of life and the
money being wasted in the conflict in Iraq?

There are people in the United States hungry and homeless - seniors having to choose between medicine, heating their homes or food.

...more...

[Mel]

5. and our

infrastructure pretty much has D's across the board. It will cost a little over one trillion to fix.....yea, I'd say this is a crisis matter of fact it's a 'freaking crisis' and winter hasn't even set in.

[The Zanti Regent]

6. It will be heard

You have to listen to the cries of the poor, starving and downtrodden to hear it.

No doubt the Media Whores won't listen